


A Fortuitous Reunion

by BalefireFlatlands



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 03:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21421120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BalefireFlatlands/pseuds/BalefireFlatlands
Summary: It's been years since Genji and Zenyatta have seen each other, they meet again under less than ideal circumstances.
Relationships: Genji Shimada/Tekhartha Zenyatta
Kudos: 54





	A Fortuitous Reunion

The setting sun sparkled over the snow that dusted the stone steps. They'd be treacherous to walk down, but it was nonetheless beautiful. A lone figure hovered at the top of the small outcropping, facing the sweeping vista, light reflecting off the metal body and twirling orbs that slowly encircled it. 

With a soft hum, Zenyatta turned to leave, avoiding the steps entirely and heading towards the small town behind him. He'd been wandering for so long that no place truly felt like home anymore, but he believed in his mission. Dogmatic teachings were not the way, connecting with people was. He would continue to help them however he could, the smallest grain of sand could be enough to turn a river from its path. 

They had kindly offered him a room to stay in. Not that he required sleep, but there was a certain security in being inside, a chance to clear his mind without needing to being aware of his surroundings. True it was more of a closet with a small window and a mattress on the floor, but it was enough for his purposes.

He hadn't even gotten to the side entrance of the residence when he heard something behind him. Gunfire followed by a _shink_ sound, a scream and a thud indicating that someone had been hit. Turning to look, he couldn't immediately locate the source of the fighting, too many buildings in the way with narrow alleyways that twisted and turned and distorted sound. 

Never one to abandon any to their fate, he headed down the nearest alley, floating silently towards what he presumed was the location of the scuffle. The road opened up to a larger circular street with a fountain in the middle and he was finally able to see what was happening. Several men and a few omnics in black suits were shooting at someone who dodged their bullets, a silver and green streak of motion that darted around almost too fast to see.

"Genji?" His voice was too soft to carry, honestly surprised that he was seeing his student again. Especially in this place far from either of their former homes. How fortuitous.

The distance was too vast for him to assist, but he started that way, unsure how to get up on the roof where they were. His search was interrupted as he was suddenly aware of approaching footsteps coming up behind him. Gracefully spinning around midair to face his attacker, he was confronted with a man wearing a mask over the lower half of his face who raised a gun to shoot at Zenyatta only to be stopped short by a barrage of energy blasts that sent him falling back to slump to the pavement.

Behind him Genji continued his fight, unaware of Zenyatta's presence as he knocked several of his enemies off the roof where they laid unmoving.

"An auspicious new beginning." Zenyatta sounded pleased, again trying to get into a position where he could assist his student.

He didn't get far before he was overcome with a strange sensation, a sort of static at the periphery of his vision and when he held his fingers out he could see charges of electricity forming between his metal fingers. "Curious."

The EMP was set off to disrupt the power and communications, but it had the unintended side-effect of knocking out every Omnic within the blast. Zenyatta was thrown against the wall, his vision scrambling for a brief second before he crumpled to the ground, the orbs that had been floating around him rolling off in all directions. 

Above him there was a very human scream that ended in a gasping gurgle as Genji's limbs stopped functioning along with the machinery in his chest and throat that allowed him to speak. His functional arm scrambled for purchase as he tumbled from the roof, thudding painfully to the ground and blacking out from the agony radiating from practically everywhere.

He hadn't even noticed that his master was there.

\---

Lights flickered and started to blink in sequence as Zenyatta came back online. He was looking up at the sky, the stars above him indicating he'd been out for a few hours at least. He let out a human sounding groan as he levitated off the ground and back into a sitting position. Some had argued that Omnics couldn't feel pain and were simply programmed to 'fake it' in order to make their human overlords feel empathy for them. 

The sensations Zenyatta was currently feeling proved otherwise. He hunched up, resisting the urge to rub at the tubing connecting his chest to his pelvis where the majority of the discomfort was located. The meditative mantras he mentally repeated to himself helped somewhat, but when he straightened up to recall his orbs to himself he involuntarily let out another sigh of pain. He didn't sleep, but he could certainly use some time to rest and analyze what was in need of repairs. 

"Genji!" His voice louder now, but raspy, not all his internal processes were done booting up again. He rushed to his side, reaching down to touch the cyborg's armor. If he was breathing, it was too shallow to be seen through the metal plating. 

That feeling Zenyatta had in his midsection seemed to tumble with another sensation he'd never felt before. Something that coiled around and made him suddenly unable to properly process what he was seeing.

Was this... concern? Was he feeling fear? He knew what most emotions should feel like intellectually, but there were several he'd not experienced. This was one of them, but he didn't have time to analyze what it might be, focusing all his attention on Genji who was still unmoving. 

"Genji, can you hear me? Are you alright?" Zenyatta put his hands on either side of Genji's helmet, fingers finding the lever to release the visor and pull it away from his face. Genji was still breathing, his eyes were closed and blood was trickling from his nose, but he was alive. 

The sensation that Zenyatta felt now was relief. He liked this one a lot more than what he'd been experiencing before. 

"I am unsure if you can hear me, but I am going to bring you somewhere safer." He lowered himself to the ground, knees hitting the pavement as he slid his arms beneath Genji's prone form. He'd expected him to be heavier, the armor was metal after all, but it must have been some sort of lightweight alloy because he weighed practically nothing. 

The only response he got was a soft gurgle as Genji hung limply in his arms. "I am with you. Now you must stay with me as well." His voice was calm, but internally he was not nearly as collected, not sure what exactly was wrong with him. 

For all their time together Zenyatta had not learned just how much of Genji's body had been replaced with cybernetics, nor how any of those parts functioned. He'd only seen him partially out of his armor a handful of times, the man seemed embarrassed of his half human, half robotic state of being - where he did not truly belong to either group. 

As Zenyatta carefully set him down on the mattress in his room he realized that he also didn't know how to get that armor off of him. Genji was bleeding from somewhere, a few droplets leaking out between the metal plates in his chest, but the source of the injury wasn't obvious.

Plucking one of the floating orbs from the air, he rolled it between his hands, the metal glowing a rich gold before he carefully placed it above Genji's head, the healing beam connecting immediately. The intensity of the beam meant that Genji was very injured, but beyond that Zenyatta couldn't tell how. The orb would stabilize him and start the healing process, but it would take time. 

Time that Zenyatta wasn't sure Genji had. 

Genji's eyes fluttered open and he groaned, clearly disoriented and striking out at the attacker nearby. Zenyatta quickly backpedaled, stumbling a bit before transitioning into his standard state of levitation. He wasn't nearly as coordinated when actually walking, something that Genji had poked fun at him for repeatedly.

"Zenyatta? What are you doing here?" The words weren't audible, just a series of gasping noises, and Genji reached up to touch his throat, eyes wide and confused.

Floating back to his side, Zenyatta bowed slightly, "Greetings again. I am glad to see you awake." He hadn't heard what Genji had said, but he could guess at the things his student would want to know upon waking up in a strange place with someone he hadn't seen in years. "You are in my room, the power has just recently been returned after an EMP blast. How are you feeling?"

He reached out as Genji tried to sit up then fell back down with a cry of anguish. Whatever Genji said was still inaudible, but the pain was obvious. 

The floating orb glowed even brighter, attempting to heal more injuries as Genji strained himself trying to get up. Noting that, Zenyatta put a hand flat against his chest holding him down. 

"You are quite injured, but I admit that I do not see how or why."

Genji rubbed at his throat again, and shook his head at Zenyatta, this wasn't something he'd be able to convey in gestures. 

For the first time Zenyatta noticed that he was only moving his left arm, the rest of his limbs seemed to be lifeless. That made a certain amount of sense, as the EMP would have potentially knocked his cybernetics offline. But shouldn't they have come back by now?

"You are bleeding, I believe I need to remove your armor to see the full extent of the wounds." He didn't make a move to do so, sitting there placidly and waiting for Genji to give him permission. There were many things he didn't fully understand about human behavior, but the desire to not be seen naked except by intimate partners was one he was aware of.

More than that, Genji rarely took his armor off anyway, Zenyatta had observed him sleeping in it before. He'd never experienced embarrassment, but he tried to understand Genji's struggle of resenting his body while simultaneously trying to accept it as his own.

Genji wasn't looking at him anymore, eyes seeming to focus on the ceiling while his chest heaved. He was having some difficulty breathing as well. Eventually he reached up and pushed the helmet off, leaning his head forward to remove it fully. 

It was a start and Zenyatta reached out to assist in sliding it away from him. He set it down nearby, leaning down to touch Genji's hair. It was longer than he remembered, and bright green.

"It suits you," something in his voice conveying the essence of smiling. He'd seen the photo of Hanzo and him, green-haired and young. Maybe this was the first step in reclaiming himself. 

Genji returned a weak smile, the scars across his face had faded, but they crinkled at the edges even from that small expression.

Zenyatta slid his hand down to Genji's throat, thumb rubbing against the small switch he could see there. It was clear how that part of his armor came off now that it was exposed, the plates would slide down into his chest after being released, but he waited for permission before going any further. 

A small nod from Genji and he started the long task of peeling him out of his armor. It was complex and slow. Genji would guide his hands to a new area and Zenyatta would carefully slide the pieces together before lifting them away. The more he removed the easier it was to see what was causing Genji so much pain. His cybernetic arm extended over his shoulder and partially across his chest, but it had separated from his skin, likely in the fall. There was a thin strip of muscle exposed all around the machinery, bleeding profusely. 

He was also incredibly pale, the sensors in Zenyatta's fingertips indicating he was much colder than normal human body temperature. Was it from bloodloss? He was bleeding heavily, but not so much that it seemed life threatening. Perhaps there was more to this than what the omnic could see.

Stripped bare, Genji didn't seem as lithe as he did when in armor, he seemed small and almost fragile. The mechanical parts were sleek and slim, but they still seemed to dwarf the man they were attached to. None of the lights were on, and the metal pieces embedded in his skin were cold. 

"Genji." For the first time Zenyatta hesitated, mentally trying to process the best way to say this without offending him, "How are your limbs powered? It seems that they are having difficulty restarting."

That may have not been the best phrasing, though all the other options he'd considered seemed worse. Genji recoiled a bit, glaring at Zenyatta who hastily pulled his hands back. Unsure how to proceed further he sunk to the ground, sitting cross legged beside the mattress. If nothing else he could try and stop the bleeding.

He bunched up the shirt Genji had been wearing under his armor, pressing it to the bleeding section of his chest. Genji hissed and shut his eyes tight, but he didn't lash out or try and pull away again. The healing orb was helping to stitch things back together but even so he seemed to be getting worse. Paler, weaker, and his breathing was much shallower now.

Whatever cybernetic parts he had internally were still offline. Maybe he had something in there to help him breathe, similar to the metal box in his throat that allowed him to speak. 

For the first time it occurred to Zenyatta that Genji might be dying, and that nothing he did would help. There was that feeling again, the same one he'd had earlier: a strange sort of heaviness that seemed to affect his thoughts along with his body. What was it?

It wasn't until Genji grabbed onto one of his hands and pressed it flat to his chest that he realized his hands were shaking. How was that possible? All his processors were working fine, everything had restarted successfully from being knocked out. 

"I think I am worried about you," said with an eager sense of excitement. "How wonderful!"

Genji arched an eyebrow and aimed a quizzical look at him.

"I have never felt this before. Without such things how can we empathize with each other? I welcome new experiences that teach me concepts I may have never known." He might have been delighted with the sensation, but the fact remained that he was very concerned and had no idea what to do. Genji being unable to speak wasn't helping things either. 

Moving his hand from where Genji had placed it, he rested his fingers against the flat, circular light placed in the center of the cyborg's chest. If anything was likely to be a power source it was that. 

Bringing his hands back he rubbed them together and then held his palms a few inches apart, letting electricity shoot between his fingers, a controlled version of the EMP from earlier. The impulses a soft yellow color rather than the arcing white light of an electric current.

"Perhaps your cybernetics need to be re-energized and your body will take it from there. A jump start if you will."

Genji's eyes went wide, following the little zaps of electricity between the Omnic's fingers. Then he flushed a deep red color and looked away, his hand coming up to rest against the metal embedded in his chest.

Immediately, Zenyatta dropped his hands and backed away, forgetting that he wasn't floating and nearly falling over as he scooched backwards.

"That was not my intention. I meant only to suggest I could potentially reactivate the parts of you that are currently non-functional. With your consent of course. I wasn't implying anything more." He was babbling now, somehow unable to force himself to stop talking even though he didn't know why he was saying the things he was. 

All Omnics were able to generate multiple forms of energy, some that were destructive, others healing. It wasn't common knowledge that one of those energies was the way that Omnics simulated having sexual encounters with each other. But it was obvious that Genji knew, and now Zenyatta was suddenly uncomfortable and awkward and full of all kinds of sensations he wasn't enjoying at all.

Whatever this particular emotion was it definitely wasn't wonderful. He wanted it to go away right now and he bowed his head to attempt to meditate and clear his mind. Unfortunately all he could focus on was the way he seemed to be unaccountably warm. All these strange new feelings and now he was overheating for some reason.

Genji made a soft sound and Zenyatta eventually looked up to see him gesturing the Omnic back to the side of the bed. Zenyatta's whole body seemed to be stiff and unresponsive as he shifted back to where he'd been sitting previously, a confused noise escaping him as he looked down at himself, wondering what the problem was. Maybe the EMP had damaged something he hadn't noticed yet and all the things he was experiencing were his body malfunctioning.

With Genji's encouragement he put his hands back against his chest, everything about his movements hesitant. That melted away as soon as he actually touched Genji. His skin was cold to the touch, his lips and fingers turning a faint purple color, and his eyes were oddly glassy.

"Would you like me to try?" His voice was soft, the concern he felt obvious in his tone. "It may hurt."

Genji nodded looking up at Zenyatta intently, his eyes were unfocused, but they were trained on the Omnic's face as best he could.

"Very well. Dr. Ziegler often tells her patients to try and relax and remain still. That likely applies here as well." 

Pulling his hands a few inches back he rekindled the electricity letting it arc across his fingers for a moment before placing his palm down on that central mechanical post in Genji's chest. In that moment he could feel every aspect of Genji's being, the pain radiating from his injured arm, the overwhelming coldness from limbs that were no longer active, and the rushing of blood and oxygen so different from the Omnic experience. 

Gasping he pulled his hand back, he'd only wanted to charge Genji's cybernetics into functionality, and what he'd just experienced felt invasive and wrong. That wasn't what he'd intended at all. Why was nothing happening the way he thought it should? The universe was mysterious, but currently it felt malicious.

"I think it's working."

Genji's voice was hoarse and low, but it was there. The light in his chest was very faintly glowing and he was smiling at Zenyatta.

"My apologies. I did not intend.." 

"Don't apologize," Genji interrupted, reaching out for Zenyatta's hand to put down on his injured shoulder. "You've done nothing wrong."

"If you are certain?"

"I am."

Inclining his head slightly, Zenyatta generated another stream of electricity pressing against Genji's shoulder this time. He was overwhelmed immediately by the way Genji's nerves started firing, the synapses reconnecting to the metallic endpoints of his cybernetics. Everything felt warm, vibrant and so very alive. As soon as that area had reknit he pulled away and moved to another section, reactivating Genji's body bit by bit. 

Strangely, the more Zenyatta channeled electricity into Genji, the weaker he was becoming. Was he using his own power? Maybe he was literally siphoning his own life force into Genji. He grunted when he'd finished with Genji's legs, bracing himself against the floor and hunching up, attempting to collect himself before continuing.

"That's enough for now. I am healed to make it through the night, thanks to you." Genji's arms wrapped around Zenyatta, taking his weight and gently laying him down on the ground. "Rest."

"I do not require sleep," But he sounded awfully tired, his voice crackling. He didn't resist as Genji scooted over to make enough room for him on the mattress. He felt like he was unaccountably heavy, moving his arms took double the effort it normally did. "But I am unsure what is wrong with my functions currently."

Genji laughed at him, "Oh Master. I will explain to you in the morning." He'd rolled onto his side, a hand on Zenyatta's slender waist to keep him in place. "You may not require it, but I know you are capable of it."

"I would rather you explain now."

Laughing even harder, Genji wrapped an arm around Zenyatta's chest and pulled him close, snuggling against his side, "You are cranky when you are tired! Sleep. I promise to still be here in the morning, and I will tell you."

Grumpily grunting, he shifted around, unused to laying down, but enjoying the warmth emanating from the cyborg that was now pressed against him. "Very well."

"Good." Genji watched as the lights in Zenyatta's forehead dimmed, his body starting to go limp, "I am glad you were there today. A fortuitous reunion."

"Indeed it is my student. Indeed it is."


End file.
